Can somebody remind me, is it usual for them to have the first vote-off when we've only seen half the contestants do their first dances?

I know they've had split weeks early on in the series before (they've split the men and the ladies I think), but I'd always thought these initial weeks were more like "exhibition dances" without a vote... my memory may be playing tricks on me.

It just seems a bit unfair to send one couple home when we haven't seen the other eight dance. What if there turn out to be three or four rubbishy contenders next week? Surely that'll make it seem even harder on Martina.

IMO they should have done the first eight competitors last night, second eight tonight, recapped them all and then done the vote from all 16. What do others think?

Yes it's always been that way since they split the first two weeks up.

To be honest, with so many couples (too many in my opinion), there isn't really a perfect solution. I guess this is just the fairest the Beeb could come up with.